


Conflagration

by Asellas



Series: McReyes Week 2016 [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch Era, Canon-Typical Violence, Jesse doesn't know how to swim but that's ok for now its a shameless plot device, M/M, McReyes week prompt, Unbeta'd, things don't always go as planned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 06:57:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8655115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asellas/pseuds/Asellas
Summary: Jesse figured, watching the upper balcony collapse and block the exit, that they might have made a few miscalculations.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day two of McReyes week.   
> Prompt: Smoke.

Jesse figured, watching the upper balcony collapse and block the exit, that they might have made a few miscalculations.

He skitters to a halt before crashing into the pile of debris, almost losing balance after a series of booms shakes the buildings. That would be the secondary charges they had set, and a quick glance at minipad strapped to his wrist confirms it. He pulls his kerchief up over his nose and mouth and dives back into the hallways, now beginning to fill with inky black smoke. The communicators had given out a minute after the entire op had gone sour; someone had gotten smart and found a jammer most likely. He ducks through a door on his right, gains some momentum and vaults over the line of banquet tables, now all brightly aflame from the oil and gas he’d dumped on them earlier. He follows the map of the building he’s memorized a week earlier, knowing that by the timing Gabriel should still be in the eastern side. They were supposed to meet up and get out before the secondary charges blew, but something must have happened and held him up.

There’s a tall set of heavy wooden doors at the end of this hall, just like he’d been shown. Smoke is pouring out of the cracks, seeping out like the questing tendrils of some giant, hungry, soul-eating monster. Jesse can feel the heat from inside through the wood, but he knows Gabriel’s still there, and he would rather burn to a crisp in this place than leave him to die. The door is heavy and resists him, but Jesse only opens it enough to slip inside, crouching to quickly survey the surroundings. There’s burning furniture basically barricading the main entrance from the rest of the room, and the curtains nearby had caught and were blazing merrily. He sees Gabriel to the left, behind a pillar of what looks to be marble, pinned down by a group of mercenaries who have huddled back behind a pile of toppled tables and chairs. One mercenary is covering a small, angry older woman, who is shrieking a steady stream of insults at anyone, mostly Gabriel but also at the mercenaries. Behind them is a bank of tall windows overlooking the ocean, the only door out of the room besides the heavy one Jesse had slipped through, was behind Gabriel.

Apparently, as evidenced from the bodies of five men in the middle of the room, the mercenaries had determined that dealing with Gabriel in close range was a bad idea, and had retreated to try and pick him off from a further range. They must not have known how bad a state the building was in, as they didn’t seem to be in a massive hurry to deal with Gabriel. Their communicators must be down as well, he guesses, or they’d have maybe decided to try and get the woman out through a window or something. Jesse knew their time was limited, if the secondary charges had gone off scant minutes ago, the rest of the place was going to be a blazing inferno in at least ten minutes.

Keeping down Jesse tries to skirt the pile of flaming debris cutting him off from his commander, but whatever had gone on in this room beforehand had made sure no one was getting out through those heavy wood doors without having to go through the fire first. He manages to catch Gabriel’s eye after a burst of rifle fire from the mercenaries gives him a small window to lean out and take a shot. His shotgun booms and the mercenary with the rifle, too slow moving back behind their makeshift barricade, falls back in a spray of blood. There’s a small commotion as they pull their injured comrade back, the older woman having fallen silent and gawking at the bleeding man who would most likely die for her tonight. Jesse takes that moment to stand and signal Gabriel, who nods to him and flicks a quick message over with handsignals. Jesse nods and crouches again, this time with his back to the wall and facing the men keeping Gabriel trapped. He does a slow count in his head, letting everything drain out of his perception till he can’t feel the heat beginning to scorch his clothes, the sound of the crackling flames blurs down to nothing, and his vision tunnels down to just those mercenaries twenty scant feet away. He just barely makes out the signal that Gabriel gives him, unfurling from his crouch in a smooth motion, pulling Peacekeeper from its holster as he zeroes in on his targets. They only just notice him then, but they barely have time to turn to look at him before Jesse braces his feet and brings his left hand over as the gun snaps up, fanning the hammer in a quickdraw that puts a full cylinder of six bullets into six heads. Only one man is left standing and he’s levelling his rifle at Jesse, who watches as if he’s stuck in slow motion. Gabriel had sprung into action the minute Jesse had drawn his revolver though, and swoops in just in time to tackle the mercenary before he can fire. The rifle cracks and a bullet grazes Jesse’s left arm to bury itself in the wall behind him, and just like that the spell is broken, the world returned to its proper momentum.

Jesse doesn’t take time to dwell on how close he’d just been to getting shot, instead takes a running leap that end up in him tucked into a roll to clear the burning barricade. He pulls himself to his feet, brushing off any embers that might have clung to his clothes, as Gabriel dispatches the last mercenary with a quick twist of his neck. Jesse’s pulled out his speedloader, flipping out Peacekeeper’s cylinder and dumping the empty shells into his hand, stashing them in a pocket before reloading the gun. Gabriel’s talking to the woman, who is now trying to talk her way out of this entire situation. Having just watched his protégé nearly be shot Gabriel isn’t much in the mood to be forgiving, and in a few clipped sentences she’s handing over a datapad and telling him the passcode. He types it in to check it out, find that it works, then slips it into the case with his own. Then he pulls out a shotgun and with the pull of a trigger removes her head from her body in a bright spray of bone and brains. Jesse can’t help the wince at the sound; the viscera he was used to seeing by this point and nothing to different than most ops.

Their mission now done the two job to the side exit. Beyond, they find a veritable wall of fire that was quickly eating its way through the hall to the room they just left, leaving them to backtrack. There’s a rumbling from somewhere else inside that sends a chandelier crashing to the floor in a cascade of glittering, broken crystal, the barricade flames now seeming hotter and hungrier than ever. The smoke now makes a heavy low ceiling, making them both cough as they scour for another way out. Jesse suddenly remembers the windows and the ocean beyond him, the smoke and heat scrambling his brains. He tugs at Gabriel’s arm, gesturing in the direction of the windows through the haze of smoke. Gabriel nods and they both break into a run, Gabriel hitting the glass and taking the whole pane out with him as he jumps into the air, tucking into a dive as he nears the water. Jesse is less finessed about it, one hand holding his hat onto his head as the air whips past, and they both hit the water hard.

Gabriel takes but a moment to orient himself once below the surface and kicks out, swimming up till he breaks through the water to gasp for breath. A quick check tells him his shotguns are still strapped to his back, and hopefully the watertight case the datapads are in has help up. With his breathing finally under control now that he has fresh air, he casts about but is unable to find Jesse is the water around him. He fishes out a flashlight from his utility belt, clicks it on as he dives back under the waves. He’s lucky to se the light glinting off something nearby and finds the young man not too far away, drifting slowing further down, one hand unconsciously holding onto that dumbass hat of his. Gabriel grabs him by the back of his tactical vest and swims them back above the water, noting that Jesse isn’t breathing and dragging him to the nearest bit of shoreline he can find. He takes extra precaution as he starts CPR, knowing that with his enhanced strength compressions without holding back would more than likely snap Jesse’s ribs like twigs. Thankfully it doesn’t take but a few moments  and a couple of slaps to the face to rouse the younger man, who convulses and coughs up a few lungful’s of seawater. Relief washes over Gabriel, who allows himself a small moment of tenderness as he leans down to give Jesse a gentle kiss.

“Next time, when choosing an escape route,” Gabriel murmurs, voice smoke-rough, “let me know beforehand that you can’t actually swim.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Jesse croaks, giving Gabriel a weak thumbs up. The wind cuts right through their wet clothing and they huddle together as they wait for the comms to come back up and call in their pickup crew.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a very quick drabble that I managed to cobble together in about an hour, so it may seem a bit sloppy but I wanted to just get it posted before family finds me and makes me have to actually talk to people again... I know I haven't managed to get the day 1 prompt done first, I typed out some of it on my phone but it's being mean and not syncing properly at the moment, so that one'll be a bit late.
> 
> As always, I'm [Asalade](http://asalade.tumblr.com) on tumblr, come say hi if you'd like~


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